Sometime this spring, a hand-lettered sign went up on the door at 2701 18th Street South. Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ, the James Beard winner's Homewood outpost since 2021, was closed. No farewell post, no last-call weekend, just a sign that said temporarily and a smoker that's been cold since.
That same season, the city around it was in the middle of throwing itself a hundred-year birthday party, one it had been planning since the start of the year. Two things were happening on the same few blocks at once: a business was quietly unraveling, and a whole town was loudly rehearsing its own permanence. Both stories are still running. Here's what each one actually looks like heading into fall.
The Sign On 18th Street
The Rodney Scott's closure wasn't really about Homewood. It was about Pihakis Restaurant Group, the Birmingham-based company behind the location, which spent this spring absorbing lawsuits and liens totaling roughly $13.7 million across its portfolio. The Homewood restaurant itself got caught in the paperwork: a lien originally filed against the location for $36,090.50 was later amended to $803,856.51, a jump that says more about the landlord dispute engulfing the parent company than about how many plates the kitchen was moving on a Friday night. Homewood's own Hero Diner, a sister concept under the same restaurant group, closed permanently in the same stretch of weeks.
Mayor Jennifer Andress addressed it directly at the time, noting how much time her own family had spent in those restaurants over the years. It read less like a press statement and more like what a lot of residents were actually feeling: confusion, then a little grief for a spot that had nothing wrong with its food.
Two New Signs Go Up
By August, the space had a new tenant. Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux announced it will move into the former Rodney Scott's location, making it the chain's fourth restaurant in Birmingham and ninth statewide. As of late August, no opening date has been set, which means the marquee is likely to sit blank into the fall before the next sign goes up.
A few doors away, inside the Aloft Birmingham SoHo Square hotel at 1903 29th Avenue South, a different kind of patience finally paid off this spring. Foo Hai Handmade Noodles & Dumplings, the Homewood outpost of Atlanta's Urban Hai, opened roughly two years after it was first announced. Chef Hai Wang, who started cooking at 15 and spent decades learning regional Chinese cuisine before relocating to the U.S., finally got his noodle counter running on the same stretch that just lost its barbecue joint. One corridor, two timelines: a five-year-old restaurant gone in a matter of weeks, a two-year wait finally resolved.
A City That's Been Rehearsing This All Year
Homewood was incorporated in 1926 as the first "over-the-mountain" city in the Birmingham metro, a designation that mattered more in an era when the mountain itself was a real commute obstacle. A population surge in the 1940s and the creation of its own independent school system in 1970 turned a cluster of small communities into the 8.3-square-mile city of nearly 28,000 people it is today. This year marks 100 years since that incorporation, and the city has been building toward the anniversary since a kickoff announcement earlier in 2026.
The centennial calendar opened with a free concert on April 11 at SoHo Square Plaza, a Yacht Rock Spectacular put on by the Homewood Arts Council featuring regional musicians covering Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs and Kenny Loggins. It doubled as the launch of the Arts Council's centennial concert series for the year.
Then came We Love Homewood Day on May 2, the city's long-running spring festival, which got a centennial makeover of its own. The signature 5K was renamed the Run of the Century for the occasion, and vendors and parade participants were asked to build their contributions around the 100-year theme. Proceeds from the day, as they do every year, went toward the Homewood High School band and show choir along with the public library.
The Back Half of October, All Mapped Out
The centennial's actual finish line falls in the back half of October, timed to the real anniversary of incorporation. Four dated events carry the closing stretch:
- October 15 — The "Old Homewood Glam" gala at Rosewood Hall, the signature ticketed event of the year, with a red-carpet cocktail hour and historic storytelling. Tickets opened to the general public on July 15. Proceeds fund the Centennial Transformation of Miss Sims' Garden, a planned public gathering space with shaded seating, water features and food-growing beds.
- October 16 — A Centennial Brunch at the Homewood Recreation Center.
- October 17 — A picnic in Central Park with live entertainment.
- October 29 — A time capsule burial, marking the exact 100th anniversary of the city's 1926 incorporation.
Just last week, the Homewood Chamber of Commerce released its Visit Homewood Centennial Map Guide, a printed and digital directory pointing residents and visitors toward the city's local shops, restaurants and lodging for the remainder of the anniversary year. And if your own house happens to be closing in on its own hundredth birthday, the city has a project for that too: a centennial history map inviting owners of 100-year-old homes to submit their properties, alongside profiles the city has already been running on longtime residents and landmarks like the Pink House.
Why Both Stories Are Actually the Same Story
Put the two threads next to each other and the pattern is hard to miss. The things turning 100 this year, the parks, the school system, the library, City Hall itself, are the parts of Homewood that don't change hands based on a landlord's balance sheet in another city. The things that turned over this year, a barbecue joint, a noodle shop finally opening after two years of delay, a sports bar chain measuring a space it hasn't opened yet, are tenants. They come and go on a much faster clock, one set by corporate finances and lease terms that have nothing to do with whether the neighborhood still wants what they're selling.
That's not a knock on any of these businesses. It's just the honest math of a downtown that's genuinely a century old: the buildings and the blocks have outlasted plenty of storefronts already, and they'll outlast whatever opens next in that spot on 18th Street too. Knowing which parts of a neighborhood are built to last and which parts are simply passing through is the kind of detail that only shows up if you're paying attention over years, not just checking a listing.
If you're watching this fall's calendar, mark October 15 through 29 now, keep an eye out for Walk-On's opening announcement, and consider getting your own home onto the city's centennial map before the year closes out. And if you're the kind of resident who's started wondering what a century-old address like yours is actually worth in today's market, Jake Callahan has spent years reading Homewood block by block, not just listing by listing. Request a Free Home Valuation & Consultation whenever you're ready to find out.
